"You Better Sit Down Kids'" is a major hit single release by American singer/actress Cher in 1967. The song reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in Canada #7.
The song dealt with divorce, a somewhat taboo subject in the 1960s, and garnered much attention in the media. It was meant to be sung by the father, however, Cher sang the song from the opposite-sex point of view. Also, at the end of the song, the wild, fast sounds of a jazz saxophone playing were reminiscent of a Spike Jones recording, suggesting the fussing that the kids would be doing as a result of the separation and the divorce of the couple.
Along with the likes of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" and "Where Do You Go" this song was one of many solo hits for Cher in the 1960s to be written by her then-partner Sonny Bono and it became Cher's second solo top ten of the decade. Along with the Sonny & Cher hit "The Beat Goes On," this was a temporary comeback to the U.S. top ten for Cher and neither she nor the duo would reach those heights again until 1971.
Singer Roy Drusky brought the song to country music audiences in 1968. His version peaked at #28, spending 10 weeks on the Billboard country chart.
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap also released a version of the song on their 1968 album, Woman, Woman.
Famous quotes containing the words sit and/or kids:
“And now on benches all are sat
In the cool air to sit and chat,
Till Phoebus, dipping in the West,
Shall lead the world the way to rest.”
—Charles Cotton (1630–1687)
“Mighty few young black women are doin’ domestic work. And I’m glad. That’s why I want my kids to go to school. This one lady told me, “All you people are gettin’ like that.” I said, “I’m glad.” There’s no more gettin’ on their knees.”
—Maggie Holmes, African American domestic worker. As quoted in Working, book 3, by Studs Terkel (1973)